Ceasefire on the Eastern Front

Russia’s involvement in World War One had been a significant factor in the build-up to the October Revolution. The summer of 1917 had seen the last major Russian manoeuvre, an ill-fated offensive that lost Russia most of the ground it had previously won. The offensive’s failure was for many the last straw; the Eastern Front had proved an untaking that was unforgivably bloody and economically crippling.

In December 1917, at Brest-Litovsk, an armistice was agreed and implemented by Soviet Russia and the Central Powers. The item on show is from the only volume printed of what was planned to be a multi-volume Soviet account of Brest-Litovsk. The image here is of the moment of the 1917 armistice, provided in the book to set the background to the larger-scale negotiations for a permanent peace which started a week later. The Central Powers are on the left and the Soviet Russians on the right.